cinema dossier

George Carlin. What a sharp, intelligent man. With his scruffy beard and baby-blue turtleneck. Except someone has cut off the neck. Or it’s tucked in. And then that charcoal suit…(with a vest?)…like he just popped over to Goodwill a few minutes before the show.

The best bit is about baseball in relation to football. Brilliant standup!

But really we must thank Lorne “Bud” Michaels for pulling this all together. [watch the end credits and you’ll get the “Bud”]

John Belushi is classic in the first ever sketch as an immigrant learning English by way of ludicrous examples (wolverines, etc.).

But the best bit of all is Andy Kaufman reaching the performance art height of Joseph Beuys in the Mighty Mouse sketch. It is timeless. It is watching genius at work. It is the best television ever.

Billy Preston rocks it will a killer band (bellbottoms and groove), but the surprise is how well Janis Ian’s performances have aged. What a presence!

There’s some Jim Henson. Some weird Muppets.

And it’s political. Carlin is pretty scathing. It was a different era.

4 responses to “SNL Season 1 Episode 1 [1975)”

Dude so cool I remember the rerun of the first season. Jin Belushi was the greatest. Plus the are the french people the coneheads I told one of my friends those people were on drugs to do such a sketch. Later George Carlin admitted they were on cocaine back then. I told my friend I told you. LOL. Nice review.